Fernández, A I; Jarufe, J; Segarra, P and Cavieres, P (2025) Management of construction planning process in massive underground mining by integrating LPS and cit through action research. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 151(5): 04025024, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Currently, in massive underground mining (MUM) many processes lack standardized methodologies for effective resource and time management. One such area is construction planning, which involves multiple time horizons and complex interactions between variables and activities. In recent years, methodologies rooted in lean philosophies have been applied to improve process control and compliance in MUM, but they often face difficulties to address site-specific constraints and intertemporal dependencies. Inadequate management of these factors can lead to significant project delays, consequently affecting production milestones. To address this gap, this paper introduces a planning methodology based in a central management system called Last Planner System (LPS) and continuous improvement tools (CIT), aimed to generate an improvement in the reliability of the processes led by the planning area. Action research (AR) is applied to evaluate existing practices for similar projects, implement the methodology, reflect upon and analyze the results, and develop guidelines for the methodology's reproducibility. The project assessed is a MUM operation in its initial construction stage characterized by specific operational constraints and constant deviations to the programming. The proposed methodology advanced project commissioning by three months, enabling the completion of all activities scheduled in the master plan's milestones and promoting operational continuity. Performance metrics validate the methodology's effectiveness, with limitations and confounding factors discussed. The methodology offers several benefits to the organization, including a traceable master plan (MP), the collaborative planning of operational constraints, and a dynamic visual monitoring of key project metrics.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Index terms: | face, philosophy, performance metric, compliance, collaborative planning, action research, management system, project delay, last planner system, methodology, programming, commissioning, reproducibility, process control, deviation, continuous improvement, time management, interaction, construction planning, mining, visual monitoring, effectiveness |
| Subjects: | health safety and environment, research methods, completion, behavioral psychology, programming, urban planning, psychology, performance management, performance measurement, management, philosophical studies, geotechnical engineering, project controls, research evaluation and metrics, control systems, data collection methods, construction planning, financial and cost management |
| Topics: | Governance, Research Practice, Information Management, Cost Management, Time Control, Organizational Design, Site Management, Digital Applications, Engineering Principles, Health and Safety, Quality Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 5 PCTEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here